


All Stood Up

by nakedrednailpolish



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Curse, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flirting, Restaurants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 13:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4566690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakedrednailpolish/pseuds/nakedrednailpolish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Can I refill your glass again, ma’am?” Regina glances up at the waitress, whose long brown hair is pulled into a ponytail, and can’t help but stare curiously at the bold streaks of red in it.<br/>“You can leave the bottle,” she says.<br/>The waitress sets a tall bottle of red wine onto the table with a soft thud and says, “Would you like to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”<br/>Regina swallows the lump that’s forming in her throat and repeats the mantra she’s been reciting for the past hour, “Just a little longer, I’m sure she’ll be here any minute.”</p>
<p>Regina goes on a date, but the woman has yet to show up. Emma decides to intervene. Based on a Tumblr prompt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Stood Up

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Français available: [All Stood Up](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8081785) by [Dusty_words](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusty_words/pseuds/Dusty_words)



> Merci beaucoup à Dusty_Words pour la traduction!

6:11pm

            Regina follows the waitress to a booth in the left wing of the restaurant. Smiling at the woman, she slides into the bench facing the doorway, so she can see when her date arrives. The waitress hands her a menu, puts another one at the empty place setting, and returns to the front of the building to seat someone else.

            Regina pulls her phone out of her purse and checks her messages. The woman she’d recently started seeing hasn’t sent any new texts, so Regina scrolls back through the old ones, double-checking the place and the time – La Mer, 6:15pm. She’s a little early, but then again she’s always early. It’s a habit that’s been drilled into her by her mother: _A lady never keeps her company waiting._

            “Hi, my name’s Ruby, and I’ll be your server tonight,” a new waitress announces, pulling her out of her thoughts. “What can I get you to drink?”

            Regina looks up at the girl, some twenty-something dressed up in a white polo and black slacks, adorned with a matching apron and tie. Glancing down at her menu, she peruses the list of beverages and quickly decides on a red wine.

            “Excellent choice. I’ll bring that right out for you.” With a polite grin, Ruby disappears into the back of the restaurant to fill the order. Regina reaches into her purse, extracts a compact, and begins checking her hair and makeup. She wants to look absolutely perfect when Robin comes in.

6:16pm

            “Sorry for the wait,” Ruby apologizes.

            Regina shakes her head. “No need to apologize; I’m waiting for my date, anyway.”

            Ruby nods in understanding. “Okay. Would you like me to hold off on your order for a few more minutes, then?”

            Regina dips her head. “That would be great, thank you.”

            The waitress walks off again, and Regina takes her first sip of wine, pleased with the taste.

6:24pm

            “How are you doing, ma’am? Anything I can get for you?”

            Regina shakes her head. “No. My date’s probably just running a little late.”

            “Okay. You sure you don’t want to order?”

            “I’m sure. She’ll be here any minute now.”

            “Alright, I’ll come back in a bit.”

6:35pm

            Regina has read through the dinner portion of the menu quite thoroughly when Ruby stops at Regina’s booth again.

            “A few more minutes?” she asks, eying the empty seat.

            “Please,” Regina says. Robin must be stuck in traffic. She’s never been late, though technically they’ve only been out like this only once before. Everything else had been… more private.

            “Can I refill your glass for you?”

            Regina blinks. Trailing her eyes to her glass, she’s surprised to see that it’s almost empty.

            “Yes, please,” she replies. Ruby offers a smile and retreats to the kitchen to fetch more wine.

6:54pm

            By now, Regina’s read through the entire menu – from the soups and sandwiches reserved for lunch to the mouth-watering plates of chocolate desert. She checks her phone once more when she finally sees a head of gorgeous blonde hair enter her view.

            Smiling, she moves to stand up and greet her date when she realizes that the blonde is not Robin but a younger woman. Her green eyes sparkle, accentuated by the forest green number that hugs her curves quite nicely. The hostess leads her past Regina’s table, and after they’re gone, Regina turns to watch them retreat further into the restaurant. The fabric of the blonde woman’s dress is tight around her ass, and when the waitress finally sits her down at a table near the back, Regina realizes she isn’t breathing.

            _Stupid_ , Regina thinks to herself. _You’re here on a_ date _. Now is not the time to be ogling attractive women._

            She fixes her gaze on the seat across from her, still vacant. _If only that date would finally show up._

6:57pm

            “Hey, Rubes,” Emma greets, eyes not lifting from the menu.

            “Hey, Emma,” Ruby replies. She eyes Emma’s attire, knowing it’s too nice for a night by herself. “Work or date?”

            “Work.”

            “So no wine, then?” Ruby smirks.

            The corners of Emma’s lips twitch upwards as she glances over the top of her menu towards the entrance, making sure the coast is clear. “No wine. Gotta stay sober until I catch this guy.” She raises her eyebrows at her friend. “Maybe tonight, after I do and your shift is done?”

            Ruby nods enthusiastically. “You know I’m always up for wine,” she says, walking away to get Emma a non-alcoholic drink.

7:00pm

            “What time are you and your ‘date’ supposed to be meeting?” Ruby asks Emma, lifting her eyes to scan the room for shady men. She sets Emma’s iced tea on the table and pulls out her order pad. She knows she won’t actually need it – when Emma’s here to catch someone she never orders anything more than a tea – but her boss would be pissed if she knew Ruby was chatting instead of working.

            “Seven,” Emma replies, checking her phone. “Right now actually.” She lifts her eyes to the divider that separates the tables from the entrance.

            “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it. I’ll be around if you need anything.” Winking, Ruby sticks her order pad back in her pocket and begins clearing a nearby table.

7:08pm

            Ruby pours wine for a brunette woman in a booth across the room. When her glass is full, the woman speaks softly to the waitress, and Emma half-wonders what she’s saying.

            As shestares at the front of the restaurant – her mark is eight minutes late – Emma absently ponders why the brunette is the epitome of perfection yet dining by herself. The woman is attractive, with her sleek black dress tightly wrapped around her body, olive arms that refuse to rest on the table – even alone, the woman displays perfect manners - and slender legs crossed neatly at the ankles. They had locked eyes when Emma first came in, and she could swear the brunette was checking her out. Now, though, Emma thinks she's waiting for someone. Every now and then, the woman turns her head towards the entrance, just enough so Emma can see her face – and it isn’t a happy one.

            The blonde shakes her head and sips her tea. There are more important and pressing issues to address, such as: _why the fuck is this guy so late?_

7:19pm

            She should have known this would happen.

            Regina stares at her wine glass, now running extremely low, and the empty seat across from her.

            “Can I refill your glass again, ma’am?” She glances up at the waitress, whose long brown hair is pulled into a ponytail, and can’t help but stare curiously at the bold streaks of red in it.

            “You can leave the bottle,” she says.

            The waitress sets a tall bottle of red wine onto the table with a soft _thud_ and says, “Would you like to order, or do you need a few more minutes?”

            Regina swallows the lump that’s forming in her throat and repeats the mantra she’s been reciting for the past hour, “Just a little longer, I’m sure she’ll be here any minute.”

            Eying the empty seat and nodding solemnly, the waitress moves to assist another table.

            Regina checks her phone again and sends Robin a text. She has to be running late. Traffic could be holding her up, and she’s probably stuck in a taxi on her way here right now.

            Except Regina knows that the traffic isn't what's holding her date up.

7:36pm

            The restaurant hauls its usual crowd

            From her usual table in the back of the room, Emma has the perfect vantage point to view most of the tables in the left wing of the restaurant, while remaining mostly out of sight from the other patrons.

            There’s a younger couple in a booth, holding hands across the table and feeding each other food off of their plates. They’re obviously in love, refusing to pay attention to anything that is not their partner. Emma can’t stomach the cheesiness of their googly eyes and turns her attention to another table.

            In the booth next to them, a family of six kids is trying to place their order, and Emma can see the waitress getting frustrated with them as the parents try to calm the kids. Emma’s stomach churns when she thinks about being in charge of one of them, let alone six, and she lets out a breath of relief when she reminds herself that she doesn’t have any.

            On the other side of the room, a group of middle-aged women are having a quiet dinner over wine, and every so often they cast sympathetic looks at the brunette in the booth beside them. Every few minutes, the woman accidentally locks eyes with one of them and quickly takes a sip of wine or checks her phone. She’s clearly waiting for someone, and Emma feels a pang of sadness for her. She’s been there since before Emma had arrived, and it’s been over a half-hour since then.

            Towards the center of the room are a few couples – two middle aged and one elderly – all of whom also occasionally glance in the woman’s direction. Clearly, everyone else has also noticed how long she’s been waiting.

            Emma forces herself to look away and glances at the entrance again. When will he get here?

7:54pm

            She can feel everyone watching her.

            Every time she sends Ruby away, she glances up at the women in the next booth, the pity in their eyes evident before they quickly avert them. The one with light brown, curly hair is the worst. She has these puppy dog eyes that keep their melancholy gleam even after her attention has returned to her friends. Damn, you’d think _she’s_ the one that’s been stood up.

            Of course, there’s the tingling that tickles the back of her neck, and when her gaze shifts outwards, she finds an elderly couple that doesn’t even try to hide their sympathetic looks.

            And so she refocuses her eyes past them, expecting to land on the floor or the opposite wall, but instead they meet with soft brown ones, and she realizes that she’s locked eyes with a six year old girl eating dinner with her family. Everyone else at the table is involved with their meals, conversation, and making sure that the toddlers are being fed, but this girl isn’t part of any of it. Instead, she and Regina just lock eyes, the girl tilting her head in curiosity, both wearing neutral expressions.

            The girl slides a piece of chicken into her tiny mouth, eyes never leaving the mysterious brunette woman across the room. Regina gets the urge to put on a brave face for this girl, a child who has no idea why the woman who’s drinking wine by herself looks so sad, and so she swallows a bit of wine and plasters a small smile on her face. For the girl.

            The child’s eyes brighten, and immediately she breaks into an open-mouthed grin, displaying chewed up bits of chicken to everyone at the table. When her parents notice her imperfect manners, they gently instruct her to close her mouth. Neither of them look for the reason their daughter has put her food on display. After that, the girl stops continuously staring, and switches between squealing at the table and silently glancing in Regina’s direction.

            Regina knows she looks ridiculous, continuously asking for more time between refilling her own glass with wine. She’ll probably have to call a cab to get home.

            Her resolve is cracking.

            Lowering her eyes to the table, Regina checks her phone again. She’s pretty sure that Robin isn’t coming, but she refuses to give up the sliver of hope that the blonde will come. She opens the menu again and sighs.

            If Robin isn’t here by the time two hours is up, she’ll leave.

7:56pm

            Emma checks her phone again – it’s almost an hour after their supposed meeting time – to find there are no new messages. Either he was really caught up with something, or he’d figured out that this ‘date’ was a setup.

            Ruby drops by again and offers to refill her iced tea.

            “Still not here?”

            “Nope.”

            “Y’think he knows what you’re up to?”

            Emma scrunches up her nose in frustration. “Probably. I’ll wait a few more minutes just in case, but if he doesn’t turn up soon, I’m going home. There are other ways to catch this guy.”

            Ruby finishes filling the glass and turns to leave. “I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

            Emma nods, then notices that the woman across the room still hasn’t ordered.

“Hey, Ruby.”

            The waitress turns back around with a curious expression on her face. “Yeah?”

            Emma lifts her iced tea in the direction of the brunette in the booth, who’s refilling her glass with the bottle Ruby had left. “What’s her story?”

            Ruby shoots a glance over her shoulder to see whom Emma meant. “Her?”

            Nodding, Emma brings the tea to her lips.

            Ruby’s expression grows somber. “She’s waiting for her date. It’s been almost two hours.” She turns to look at her again, and they watch as she sips her wine and texts a message to the absent woman.

            “Damn, that’s awful. She looks so upset.”

            Nodding solemnly, Ruby replies, “I’ve been asking her if she’d like to order but she keeps insisting that, ‘She’ll be here any minute.’”

            Emma watches as the woman reaches forward to pick at the label on the bottle. “That sucks. That really fucking sucks.”

            Ruby spots a new group of customers being seated and pulls out her order pad. “I feel so bad for her. The bottle’s almost empty. I think she’ll leave when it is.” Sighing, she heads toward the customers – a man, a woman, and three older kids – to take their order.

            The woman scratches the label with her fingernail and sighs, her shoulders visibly shaking, and Emma thinks she’s started to cry. But when the woman turns her head to check the entrance, her cheeks are dry.

            Emma thinks about what she could possibly do to make her feel better. If anything, maybe she’ll pay the bill when she’s ready to leave.

8:15pm

            Regina checks her phone for the millionth time. Just like the past two hours, her inbox is devoid of new messages. She closes her eyes and sighs.

            _You idiot_ , she thinks, clenching her jaw.

            It’s been two hours. She’s not coming.

            She reaches for the bottle and notices there’s probably enough for one or two more glasses. Her stomach rumbles, and for a moment, she considers staying, ordering, and at least having a decent meal for herself. Then she glances upwards at the women in the next booth, who all simultaneously look away, and she knows she looks like a fucking idiot. She just wants to go home.

            As she turns in her seat to look for Ruby, the blonde woman she’d noticed earlier rushes in from the entrance, saying, “I am so, _so_ sorry, babe.” Without warning, the blonde rips off her jacket and plops herself in the seat in front of her.

            Loudly, she repeats. “I’m sorry. I know I’m late, and you’ve been sitting here by yourself, and shit, I am so, _so_ sorry, baby.”

            Regina narrows her eyes, prompting the woman to lean forward and whisper, “I’m Emma. The woman who stood you up is a fucking bitch.”

            Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the woman’s boldness, then soften as she smiles in gratitude.

            “It’s alright, dear,” she says, loud enough for everyone to hear but slightly below the decibel at which the blonde – _Emma_ – had practically been shouting.

            “No, it’s not.” Then, lowering her voice to a more tolerable volume, though still loud enough for Regina to realize it’s part of the show, Emma continues, “But maybe I can make it up to you later tonight?”

            Then she smirks. And _winks_.

            Fuck.

            If she wasn’t so hurt right now, Regina would have called the motion attractive.

Embarrassed, she feels her cheeks heating up, but notices that the restaurant patrons have, with slightly red faces, returned to their dinners.

            “You look beautiful,” Emma says, offering a non-threatening smile. This time, her voice is at a normal volume, which means that the comment isn’t for the patrons, but for her.

            Regina’s face gets hotter, and she resists the urge to cover her face with her hands. Instead, she smiles.

            “Thank you,” she says. Her eyes drop downwards, finding the blonde’s cleavage and realizing there’s enough of it to admire while leaving some to the imagination. “You look lovely, too.”

            This causes the blonde to blush. “Thanks.”

            “And thank you,” Regina continues, indicating the other patrons with her eyes, “for that.”

            Emma shrugs, picking up the untouched menu and leafing through it. “Like I said, whoever stood you up is a fucking asshole.” She glances up to meet Regina’s eyes. “They blew it. You deserve better than that.” Bringing her attention back to the menu, she turns a page and asks, “What are you getting, sweetheart?”

            Regina smiles at the pet name, even if it was just pretend. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I was just getting ready to leave, anyway.”

            “No way. I’m definitely staying. We have an important cover story to maintain, and more importantly, I know you haven’t eaten anything yet and you’re probably starving.”

            At Regina’s unsure look, she adds, “Don’t worry, I’m paying. Someone else ruined your evening so the least I can do is buy you dinner.”

            Regina checks her phone one last time, before putting it back into her purse and picking up the menu.

            “Thank you.”

            The phone stays in her purse for the rest of the night.

8:18pm

            Ruby looks mildly surprised when she finds Emma sitting at Regina’s table.

            “Nice of you to finally arrive,” she says, eyes teasing but with a hint of malice in her voice. The nastiness isn’t really directed at Emma but towards whoever decided to stand up the other woman.

            “Yeah,” Emma says sheepishly. “I’m an idiot.”

            “But you’re also _my_ idiot, dear,” the brunette says, eyes skimming past her menu to glimpse at Emma. As the woman looks up to order her meal, Emma really notices her eyes for the first time. They’re so dark and soft, like coffee, or chocolate, but they’re also glinting, playful from the fictitious relationship they’re perpetuating. Her eyelashes flutter as her gaze flits between Ruby and the menu. She could stare at them for the entire meal…

            “And for you, ma’am?”

            Emma blinks. Ruby grins at her, waiting for her order, and Emma knows she’s been caught staring. Glancing down at the menu, she realizes she’s had almost everything on it.

            “I’ll just have what she’s having,” she answers, closing the menu with a soft _plop_.

            As Ruby takes their menus, she grins knowingly at them, and her look says _we are definitely talking about this later._ Emma shrugs in a sort of _I-don’t-know_ kind of way, unsure of how to explain to her friend that she somehow went from anonymously paying the woman’s bill to pretending to be the woman’s date.

            After Ruby walks away, Regina pours Emma a glass of wine.

            “I’m Regina, by the way.” She tops off her own glass before setting the bottle down between them.

            “Nice to meet you, Regina,” Emma says. She sips the wine and nods her head approvingly.

            Picking up her own glass, Regina swirls the dark liquid for a bit before taking a drink. “So, you’re also all dressed up, at a nice restaurant, alone, until you sat with me, that is. There _must_ be a story there.”

            Emma shrugs and sips her drink. “I’m a bail bondsperson. I was actually here to catch one of my marks, but he never showed.”

            Regina narrows her eyes, motioning to Emma’s dress. “You were going to catch a criminal in _that_?”

            The blonde raises her eyebrows and quirks her lip. “You’d be surprised at how fast I can run in heels and a dress.”

            Smirking at the comment, Regina sets her glass in front of her and runs her finger along the rim. “So what made you decide to spend your night with me?”

            Emma blushes, taking another sip of wine to gather her thoughts.

            “Well, I wasn’t going to, at first,” she began.

            Regina nods. “Right, you had your… date-that-wasn’t-really-a-date with a criminal.”

            “Yeah. And then while I was waiting for my guy to show, I saw you waiting for your girl to show, and, I don’t know, I guess I just saw how hurt you looked. I was just gonna pay your bill anonymously and leave, but… the longer I watched you, worse I felt. And everybody else was starting to notice, too. So, I got this _crazy_ idea in my head and I snuck around the back so it would look like I was coming in from the front, and… here I am.”

            She takes another gulp of wine while Regina digests the information. Quickly, Emma realized that she was basically calling this a pity date and rushed to fix that.

            “It was _totally_ worth it though, to see the look on your face when I came rushing in.”

            Smirking, Regina hums before replying, “Yes, my knight in shining armor.”

            Emma grins. “That’s me.”

8:25pm

            They’re partway through their salads when Regina suddenly feels Emma’s toe making a long, deliberate stoke up her calf.

            Surprised, she utters a soft yelp and jumps in her seat, drawing everyone’s attention yet again.

            She shoots a glare at Emma, who lifts her eyebrows suggestively and drums her fingers on the table. Regina heartbeat quickens, and she’s not sure if it’s embarrassment or the blonde’s presumptuousness that floods her cheeks with red. After a moment, Emma glances at the restaurant patrons, turns back to Regina, and leans forward to speak in a low voice.

            “Sorry. That old couple’s been shooting us dirty looks for the past five minutes, so I thought I’d get back at them a little, y’know?” Her fingers thump against the wood again. “I’m sorry for invading your personal space.”

            Regina eyes the woman for a moment before turning her gaze to the rest of the customers. Sure enough, an elderly man and woman are both staring daggers at her and her pretend date. She’s sure one of them is muttering about what the world is coming to these days, and suddenly she feels the need to defend their date.

            Her gaze drifts back to Emma. This time, she starts at the blonde’s face and drags her eyes downward, past angled eyebrows and emerald irises, over pink lips and blonde curls, along smooth, light skin, down to the ample cleavage and the breasts that hid behind shiny green fabric. Emma’s pupils dilate, and fleetingly Regina wonders if she _enjoys_ being studied this way.

            “It’s no problem, dear. If you wish to put on a show…”

            Lips cocked in a mischievous grin, she reaches for Emma’s arm, touching it just below the crook of her elbow. She gently skims her hand down the blonde’s forearm, grasping active fingers and stilling their furious movements instantly. Emerald eyes widen as Regina lifts the hand to her mouth, pressing crimson lips to worn knuckles – Emma must practice a lot of hand-to-hand combat for her job – and running a thumb across the back of it.

            “…then we’ll put on a show.”

8:44pm

            When Emma spots Ruby leaving the kitchen and bee-lining to their table with two plates in hand, she can’t quite make out what her dish is. Since she just went along with Regina’s order, she has no idea what she’s actually going to be eating. She supposes it’s a good thing that she doesn’t have any food allergies.

            Even though she isn’t particularly worried about which dish she ordered, she still breathes a quiet sigh of relief when Ruby puts down a plate of lasagna in front of Regina. It’s one of her favorite dishes, so when her own food is set in front of her, she takes a long whiff of the steaming pasta. The aroma of marinara sauce, beef, spices, and melted cheese tingles her nose, and she sighs in complete bliss.

            “You really like lasagna,” Regina says with a smile.

            “I really do,” Emma replies, cutting into the pasta. She gingerly takes her first bite and moans when it excites her taste buds.

            “It’s one of my favorites, too.” Regina cuts into her own food, releasing a quiet sigh of her own. “While I love to cook, it’s always nice to taste someone else’s food.”

            Emma’s eyes flit to the older couple, and Regina spots the playfulness in her eyes. “Oh, would you like a bite of mine, sweetie?”

            Regina purses her lips, not quite following Emma’s train of thought. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

            Emma stabs her lasagna with a fork and heaps a medium-sized bite onto it.

            “No, really, I think mine’s better. Have a taste.” As Emma lifts the fork across the table, Regina finally catches on and leans forward to eat lasagna off of Emma’s fork, and all too late Emma dotes on her choice of words.

            _Have a taste._

As she watches Regina chew, she thinks about spreading beneath Regina, the woman’s hands wrapped around her thighs…

            “No, dear, I believe you’re mistaken. My dish is exceptionally better than yours.” Boldly, she scoops up some lasagna on her own fork and holds it out for the blonde. Obediently, Emma captures the food from Regina’s fork in her mouth and chews with a slight smirk.

            As Emma swallows, she starts giggling at the absurdity of the conversation, prompting Regina to chuckle as well. They laugh together for several minutes over the fact that their lasagna likely came from the same pan.

            And damn, this woman was so beautiful when she laughed. Her head tipped back, lips spread wide, teeth showing as this perfect rumbling echoed from the back of her throat.

            Just half an hour ago, this woman had been aching with rejection, and somehow Emma had gotten her to forget about it for just a minute, long enough for her to show off that brilliant smile.

9:03pm

            Ruby drops a plate of chocolate cake between them, hot fudge oozing down the sides and puddling on the white plate.

            “Damn, this looks good,” Emma breathes, already reaching for her fork.

            The elderly couple had left shortly after the women fed each other lasagna from their plates, so when Emma senses Regina’s foot sliding up her leg, she freezes in surprise, mouth hanging open and fork loaded with chocolate poised in the air.

            Up, and down. Up, and down. On the third stroke up, Regina’s foot slips behind Emma’s knee and nuzzles the skin there. Emma swallows, mouth suddenly dry, but when she tries to speak, she finds she can only swallow again.

            “Together, dear,” Regina purrs, scooping up a mound of chocolate on her fork as well.

            The brunette stills her motions so they can eat, but keeps her foot against Emma’s leg for a few more minutes. When Regina’s foot falls away from her leg in the middle of the conversation, Emma immediately misses the contact.

9:41pm

            When the last bit of chocolate has been eaten, Emma checks her phone and reluctantly suggests that it’s getting late and they should probably head home.

            Ruby brings the bill and Emma retrieves her credit card from where it was nestled beside her left breast (“If I put it in my clutch, it’ll get stolen when I chase down the bad guys. Where else am I gonna put it, Regina?”) and tips her friend twenty bucks for keeping their fake date a secret. Most of the customers who had seen Regina sitting by herself are gone now, so there’s no need to keep up their charade any longer, but when warm fingers slip around Regina’s hand, she doesn’t pull away.

            Hand in hand, the women walk around the divider, past the hostess station, and through the double glass doors that make up the exit.

            It’s raining; water pelts the awning above the entrance with muted patters. Emma and Regina move off to the side so that they’re not in the way of the doors, but still protected by the awning.

“Thank you for dinner,” Regina says, letting go of Emma’s hand and leaving a chaste kiss on her cheek, “and for saving me.”

            Emma’s stomach warms at the touch, and she resists the urge to reach for the brunette again. Instead, she offers a smile. “It’s no problem, really.”

            “For an hour, I was able to forget about… well… you know.”

            Emma pauses, watching Regina fiddle with her black umbrella. “Can I…. can I ask about her?”

            “Ask about her?”

            “The woman, the one who was supposed to meet you here tonight. This seemed like more than a first or second date…”

            “Oh, yes, her…”

            “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

            “No, no, it’s okay. Nothing much to tell, really." Regina glances out at the storm, refusing to meet Emma’s eyes. “Robin wanted to scratch it off her bucket list, and she was hot, so I figured, why not? So we scratched and we scratched, and I promised myself I wouldn’t get attached, but…”

            She lets the statement taper off, and Emma nods in understanding.

            Regina looks at her feet. “Then, when I suggested we turn it into something more…”

            “…she realized she was straight and stood you up.”

            Regina nods.

            Emma blows a low whistle. “That’s rough. We always tell ourselves not to fall for the straight girl, but then…”

            She trails off. Regina knows Emma had been flirting with her all night, but she can’t help the sigh of relief that comes when the blonde confirms her sexuality. Two let-downs in one night might have been too much to handle.

            Emma opens her clutch, pulls out a piece of paper, and scribbles “Here’s my number, in case you ever need me to come save you from another hideous date.”

            Regina takes the paper, chuckling at Emma’s large, round handwriting and the heart she’d sketched beside her name, before meeting Emma’s eyes and sobering.

            Emma half shrugs, a nervous smile playing at her lips. “Or, you know, if you want to go out again, for real this time.”

            The air between them is silent. The rain titters on the awning as Regina’s lips hesitate, then widen into another smile.

            “I’d like that.”

            This time, Emma can’t stop herself. She leans forward and leaves a gentle kiss on Regina’s crimson lips. It seems as if the world freezes, like even the rain has ceased to fall for a moment. All that exists is the way their lips softly come together.

            When they pull apart, Emma beams. “Call me,” she says, pulling up the hood on her coat and ducking into the rainfall.

            As she watches the woman retreat into the storm, Regina grins, bringing up her fingers to brush the spot where Emma’s lips had touched her own.


End file.
